BALTIMORE — There wasn’t a single player surrounding Jalen Carter who disagreed when C.J. Gardner-Johnson gave his strong opinion on his teammate’s dominance.
“Best f—ing defensive lineman in the league,” Gardner-Johnson said as Carter smiled upon the compliment. It was just another reason for Carter to smile on a day where no one on the Baltimore Ravens could stop him.
Carter finished with eight pressures, a sack, two quarterback hits and three tackles for loss in Sunday’s win over the Ravens.
Oh, and the Philadelphia Eagles star defensive tackle did this against Lamar Jackson.
Perhaps the hardest quarterback to bring down, Carter and his massive 314-pound frame saw Jackson stand up in the pocket and move to his left. The Eagles defensive tackle pushed past Ravens left tackle Patrick Mekari and got a hold of Jackson’s leg at full speed. Jackson tried to escape, but couldn’t escape Carter.
Jackson was sacked for a 13-yard loss after the play was initially ruled intentional grounding, showcasing how dominant Carter is on a weekly basis. In a game where the Eagles defense held the Ravens to 19 points and 372 yards, both their second-lowest totals, Carter was the best player on what has been the best defense in the league over the past two months.
“I have the mindset that nobody can outdo me,” Carter said. “I see what he [Jackson] does. I see all the film. He had an opportunity to break that tackle, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. I was talking about it all week that if he tried to escape on me, I’m not letting him go.”
Carter was the best player on the Eagles defense Sunday, but that won’t shortchange what the entire unit did as a whole. The Eagles finished with 35 pressures on Jackson, and Carter wasn’t the team leader in that statistic. Milton Williams, playing the majority of snaps at edge rusher in the wake of Brandon Graham’s season-ending injury, led the team with nine pressures. Josh Sweat also had seven pressures on the defensive line, as the unit has 32 pressures on the afternoon.
It was Williams who helped set up the Carter sack on Jackson, just returning the favor for the sacks Carter helped set up during the game.
“Y’all said I helped get two sacks, but this time, he helped me get that sack,” Carter said. “I’m thankful for him, and we had a little game plan going on, and Lamar scrambled. I came out, took an angle and got the sack.”
Carter dominated up front, but credit also goes to Jordan Davis as he finished with an 18.2% pressure rate. The Eagles have asked Davis to play a bigger role in pass-rushing downs and have more snaps with Graham out for the season. The first test went significantly well.
“He played big, man. There was a lot of stuff going on. I made some plays. He made some plays, but he really stepped up to the plate,” Carter said of Davis. “He got some big stops on Derrick Henry, and I hope people acknowledge it.”
The Eagles defense leads the NFL in sack rate since Week 6 (10.6%) and are the only team with 30+ sacks in that span. Carter has 30 pressures and 4.5 sacks during that stretch, emerging as one of the best defensive players in football.
There’s a reason why Gardner-Johnson said what he said, even though Carter isn’t close to scratching the surface.
“I still got a lot to learn. I still got a lot to learn,” Carter said. “This is only my second year. I know there are veterans that still know way more than me.”
